DOD and DOT get 11th-hour help in making Web sites accessible

DOD and DOT get 11th-hour help in making Web sites accessible

Jun 13, 2001

By Dipka Bhambhani

GCN staff

JUNE 13With the federal Web site accessibility deadline looming July 27, the Navy and the Transportation Department have signed contracts for software that can make Web pages accessible in as little as two hours.

The Navy last week signed a $6 million blanket purchasing agreement with software developer Crunchy Technologies of Arlington, Va., giving all Defense Department agencies the option to purchase the software, called Pagescreamer, at a 15 percent discount.

DOT, meanwhile, signed an open-ended contract extending the same benefit to all of its bureaus, which could include as many as 2,000 users.

'No one is being told that they have to use it,' said Lt. Jane Alexander, spokeswoman for the Navy's Office of the Chief Information Officer. Making the software available and affordable will give little reason for agencies not to comply, she said.

'We're making very good progress and we plan to be ready by the deadline,' Alexander said.